Method of making wirebound boxes



1934- G. COLBIE 1,980,474-

METHOD OF MAKING WIREBOUND BOXES Filed April 23, 1932 INVENTQR Patented Nov. 13, 1934 METHOD OF MAKING WIRE-BOUND BOXES Gus L. Colbie, Brooklyn,

N. Y., assignor to F. Mac- Govern Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 23, 1932, Serial No. 607,098

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a splice for the ends of binding wire used to bind packages and particularly to a splice for waiting the ends of binding wires stapled to boxes and crates, and comprises both the wirebound box so produced and the method of its production. The present application, however, is limited to the method.

The principal feature of this invention is to form a splice by intertwisting the ends of binding wire on a wire bound box in such manner as to provide an improved and stronger splice than is provided by any of the common forms of spliced joints now made, the claims on the product being presented in my copending application Ser. No. 1 739,398, filed August 11, 1934, as a division of this present application.

- According to the present practice of joining the wire ends together, the said ends are first bent outward perpendicularly to the surface of the box wall, and are gripped at a predetermined distance from the box wall between the two jaws of a twisting tool, which jaws are revolved circumferentially around the wire ends to thus twist the said wires together. During the twisting operation, one pair of convolutions is formed for each revolution of the twisting jaws, until the maximum number permissibleor possible within the space between the box wall and said twisting jaws, is made. The twisting is thus continued to an extent which tightly jams the convolutions together, and when the strain upon said convolutions then or thereafter becomes excessive, the wire, usually at those portions of its ends in direct contact with the jaws, will be severed, thus completing the twisting operation. Since the finished twist is then projecting outward from the box, it next has to be turned downward parallel to box wall.

In the form of twist just described, there are certain defective features. One is the excessive strain at the bent corners of the wire ends which are formed when the said wire ends are bent perpendicular to the box Wall, which strain is caused by the concentrated and prolonged twisting action upon these points. Another is the natural tendency for the wires to untwist, when a strain is exerted at their juncture which tends to progressively spread them apart. Another undesirable feature is the dangerous condition caused when the twisted ends 3-9.16 accidently moved outward from their proper position parallel to the box, in which projected position, the torn and jagged ends may cause injury to, or tear the clothing of, a person handling the box.

As contradistinguished from such former'procedure, in the form of twist made according to this invention, there are no concentrated strains exerted at any particular part of the binding wire ends and there will be no tendency for the wires to become untwisted, since any pulling strain will be equally divided between each convolution throughout the twisted section. Furthermore, there will be no possibility of the twisted portions being moved since they normally lie fiat against the box well after the twist iscompleted and are under tension in that position, this being due to the fact that, before making the splice, the wire ends will both lie in their normal positions, parallel with a side wall of the box, and with their ends tucked under retaining members.

By comparison, while the strength'of the twist now commonly. used is approximately fifty per cent of the tensile strength of the .wire, the strength of the twist formed according to this invention is even stronger than the individual strands of untwisted binding wire. Under test it has been found that the wire will break before the twisted splice can be pulled apart. A splice of thecharacter and embodying my present invention can most conveniently be made by using the twisting tool described and classified in my Patent No. 1,955,409, granted April 17, 1934.

In the accompanying specification and drawing, I have described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of this invention.

In the drawing: I Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of on end of a wirebound box having the ends of a binding wire spliced together along one end of said box.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective of one corner of a box showing the approximate positions of the ends of the binding wire previous to starting the twisting operation, and also portions of the preferred twisting tool of my before mentioned application in operative position.

- Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a completed splice after the said tool has been removed, an

Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3 showing a modi fied form of splice.

Referring to Fig; 1, a binding wire 10 is shown stretched around a box 12 and secured thereto at spaced'apart positions by means of staples 1414. One free end 16 (see Fig. 2) of said wire 10 extends beyond one end of the cover portion 18 around the corner and down along the end wall, while the other free end 20 extends along said end wall together in a manner which will now be described.

By means of a twisting tool of the type described in my copending application, the parallel adjacent portions of the wires are adapted to be intertwisted. The essential parts of said twisting tool are shown in Fig. 2 of this application and comprise a rotatable pinion 24 having a slot 26,

Within which the wire ends 16 and 20 are slipped.

Said pinion 24 is then rotated by means of a gear such as indicated in part at 28, and which is given a partial rotation to revolve the pinion 24 a predetermined number of times.- If the twisting pinion is brought into engagement with the wire ends midway between the ends of same as in Fig.- 2, and then rotated, the wire portions above and below said pinion will be twisted in opposite directions to form the splice shown in Fig. 3. As

soon as the pinion starts rotating, the upwardly disposed Wire end 20 will become jammed behind that portion of binding wire 10 which passes over the corner of the cover 18, as indicated at30, while the lower end 16 will jam behind a staple 14 Two pairs of helical convolutions, one above and one below the pinion 24, are formed each time the said pinion is rotated, and each one as formed crowds the next one away until the series stretches out in uniform alignment in such manner as to provide a tight and long splice which cannot be pulled apart before the wire breaks regardless of the amount of strain applied thereto. This is because there is no concentration of twisting action on any particular part of the wire, while the convolutions are being formed, due to the particular binding wire section passing beneath the staple 14 on the box cover, rotating freely thereunder; while the wire section extending up along the box end 27, will be permitted to similarly rotate under'staples 14 and 14 on said 1 staples.

' box end thereby causing no concentrated strain on said binding wire or on any particular portion thereof. The upwardly projecting end 20 of the wire is confined under the bend 30 of the other wire end 16 where the latter rounds the box corner, while the said other wire end 16 of the wire is confined by'the staple 14 Consequently all twisting action between these points results in the formation of intertwined helices of wire, with convolutions closely jammed together, as shown in Fig. 3, thus producing a structural and frictional engagement that produces a perfect splice. Beyond these points, the single strands of wire twist harmlessly, if at all, or the whole loop of wire may rotate if it is loosely held in the remaining The wire ends 16 and 20 will be of sufficient length before twisting to provide short ends beyond the twisted convolutions, so that there will-be no need for cutting same after the splice is completed.

When the desired number of convolutions are formed, thetwisting tool'is withdrawn, thus removing the pinion from engagement with the flattened or untwisted portion 32, of the com.- pleted splice. After the twisting tool is removed,

,- the splice does not require any additional manipulation because it has no projecting portions or ends, but lies flat against the adjacent wall of the box. Furthermore, there are no partsto be- 20 at the lowermost portion of .the end 16% by,

the twisting pinion 24. When said pinion is rotated in this position, the convolutions are all formed in one direction, and since the lowermost end 16 is engaged by the pinion,it is only necessary to provide one abutment for the uppermost end 20 Said end 20 is jammed behind that portion of the binding wire 30 which passes over the corner of the box cover '18-similarly' to the way described when explaining the construction shown in Fig. 3. In this case only one pair of double, intertwined helices of wire are formed, but the structural and frictional resistance to separation are again sufficient. The wirebound box so produced according to my invention is also a more securely fastened package than any having a similar wire splice formed by the tools of the prior art hereinbefore referred to would be. bound package made with such prior art tools which grasp the wires at three points would be more inseourely bound because an untwisting action might tend to occur at the ends which would be left free in such possible prior art procedure, but in the caserof my present invention any suchv untwisting of the splice is checked by the anchoring effect of the staple or staples againstwhich the free end or ends of the wire rests or rest, or by the similar action of the wire bend around a box-corner, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

While the two forms of twist shown are preferred forms, other forms might bemade, such modifications being within the principles and general scope of theinvention here claimed, if the method of construction explained above is substantially preserved, and the results described are still obtained. Obviously also, this type of splice could be produced by many forms of tool apparatus other than that described in my above noted Any wirecopending application and fragmentarily illusholding means against mutual rotation of the wire strands at the upper end of the splice.

I am aware that heretofore numerous. wire twisting tools have been disclosed by which the adjacent, parallel ends of the wire loop to be twisted together have been grasped at three points, that is tosay at spaced-apartpoints for holding by the tool and at an intermediate point for twisting, but that operation required an elaborate and heavy tool, and produced a twisted joint liable to partly untwist when released by the tool; whereas my improved method (herein disclosed) of usingonly anchorages for the free wire ends which are permanently associated with the box permits the employment of a simple and novel form of light twisting tool shown in my co-pending application Serial No. 607,099, filed April 23, 1932, which has no stationary clamping means whatever, but merely requires a single twisting pinion. Also my present invention has developed for the first time a twisted joint for box-binding wire ends in which such wire ends are firmly and permanently'held in place by anchorages perm'anently associated with the box itself, so that there canbe nosubsequent partial untwisting of thetwisted sections andno displacement thereof,

after the twisting operation has been completed.

Having described my invention, I claim,

The'herein describedmethod of splicing the 150 ends of a binding wire stapled to and around the outer surfaces of a box, which method comprises arranging oppositely extending ends of said wire closely adjacent and parallel one to another, with each of said ends projecting beyond a motionrestraining means permanently associated with such box such as a staple driven into such box around another portion of said wire or a section of the wire bent around a box corner, grasping a relatively short portion of said overlapping wire sections at a point intermediate of said restraining means by suitable twisting mechanism and causing them to rotate one about the other at the point so grasped; whereby, the free ends of said overlapping wire sections being held in their original positions by said restraining means, oppositely coiled double helices of intertwisted wire sections will be formed extending in opposite directions fromthe point grasped by said twisting mechanism.

' 2. A method such as defined in claim 1 in which said twisting means is applied at a point substantially half way between said restraining means.

3. A method such as defined in claim 1 in which said twisting means is applied at a point adjacent one of said restraining means, and in which both said wire end portions are left free to revolve on their respective axes.

GUS L. COLBIE. 

